Workshop on Financial Integration and Economic Performance in Europe

European Project Assesses Impacts of Financial Integration on Economic Performance in the Euro Zone

A workshop on European Financial Markets, Investment and Technological Performance to be held on 11th February 2004 at Scarman House, University of Warwick, UK, marks the culmination of a major, EC funded comparative research project on European financial integration.


The workshop will bring together the findings of the multifaceted study of European Integration, Financial Systems and Corporate Performance (EIFC). The EIFC study was led by the United Nations University Institute for New Technologies (UNU-INTECH) based in Maastricht, The Netherlands. It was financed by the European Commission (DG Research: Improving the Human Potential and the Socio-Economic Knowledge Base Programme). Work was carried out by researchers at the University of Wales, Oxford University, University of Rome, Warwick Business School and the Kiel Institute of World Economics.


The three-year study sought to contribute to a better understanding of the fundamental determinants of corporate performance and in doing so the project has identified critical areas for the reform of financial institutions.


The Warwick workshop is the first of two workshops being held to disseminate the study findings to the research community and policy analysts working on European financial markets. It will address the role of firms' access to finance in determining their investment strategies and hence technological performance; the extent of European financial market integration and policy implications for investment, growth and employment in the Euro-zone.


A second workshop organised by Centro Europa Ricerche will be held in Rome, Italy, at the premises of the Institute on on February 20 and will address the theme: "Finance, Institutions, and Growth. What Model for Europe?"


The study was divided into five thematic study areas, each co-ordinated by researchers at the participating institutions.
1. Comparative Studies on Innovation and European Financial Systems
2. Adaptive Banking Competition and European Financial Integration
3. European Capital Market Integration, Private Investment and Employment Creation
4. Micro-Analysis of Corporate Investment and Finance
5. Banking, Investment and Technological Diffusion
6. European Financial Markets, Venture Capital and High-Tech Firms


The studies commissioned for the project have yielded 36 Working Papers to date. The findings of the study will be further consolidated into two edited volumes.


The working papers and the workshop presentations can be downloaded at the UNU-INTECH website at www.intech.unu.edu as they become available. More information on the EIFC project can be found at www.intech.unu.edu/research/index.htm


Contact: Dr. Anthony Bartzokas, EIFC Project Co-ordinator, UNU-INTECH, (bartzokas@intech.unu.edu)


About UNU-INTECH

The Institute for New Technologies of the United Nations University (UNU-INTECH) was set up in Maastricht, The Netherlands by the Council of the United Nations University in 1990. UNU is an international community of scholars engaged in research, postgraduate training and the dissemination of knowledge aimed at furthering the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations.
Within the UNU family, INTECH conducts research and policy-oriented analyses and undertakes capacity building in the area of new technologies: the opportunities they present, the vectors for their generation and diffusion and the nature of their economic and social impact, especially in relation to the developing countries.


UNU-INTECH's mission is to stimulate dialogue and to develop and diffuse quality information in the area of its mandate. In addition to its research, the Institute provides advanced academic training through a PhD programme and undertakes capacity building through its PhD internship programme, workshops and joint research projects with institutes and individuals in the developing world. Results of its research are published in peer reviewed journals, as books and as INTECH discussion papers.


For more information contact:

Ms. Marijke Roolvink-Batty

UNU-INTECH

Tel: (31) (43) 350 6372

Email: roolvink@intech.unu.edu